Conspiracy
' |image= |series= |production=40271-125 |producer(s)= |story=Robert Sabaroff |script=Tracy Tormé |director=Cliff Bole |imdbref=tt0708691 |guests=Henry Darrow as Adm. Savar, Ward Costello as Adm. Gregory Quinn, Robert Schenkkan as Cdr. Dexter Remmick, Ray Reinhardt as Adm. Aaron, Jonathan Farwell as Capt. Walker Keel, Michael Berryman as Capt. Rixx, Ursaline Bryant as Capt. Tryla Scott |previous_production=We'll Always Have Paris |next_production=The Neutral Zone |episode=TNG A25 |airdate=7 May 1988 |previous_release=We'll Always Have Paris |next_release=The Neutral Zone |story_date(s)=Stardates 41775.5-41780.2. |previous_story=We'll Always Have Paris |next_story=The Neutral Zone }} =Summary= While the Enterprise is en route to Pacifica on a scientific mission, Captain Picard receives a highly confidential message from an old friend, Captain Walker Keel of the USS Horatio. Keel refuses to discuss his concerns, even though the frequency he is using is supposed to be a secure channel, and insists on a face-to-face meeting. Once they arrive at Dytallix B for this secret meeting, the crew discover the Horatio and two other Federation ships already present. Picard beams alone to the surface and is met by Captain Keel and the other captains. Keel reports strange orders from Starfleet headquarters and what he implies are suspicious deaths of Starfleet officers, and expresses concern of a conspiracy. Picard refuses to accept this without proof, but Keel warns him to remain wary. When the captain returns to the Enterprise, he is challenged by Counselor Troi about keeping his contact with Keel secret. Picard is skeptical about the conspiracy, but says that he trusts his old friend completely. The Enterprise resumes its previous journey. Picard has Commander Data review all orders issued by Starfleet Command in the past six months. While the ship is still on its way to Pacifica, a disturbance is detected in nearby space. Upon investigating this, the Enterprise discovers a mass of debris that surely must be the shattered remains of the Horatio. Data completes his study and finds several strange orders from the senior levels of Starfleet. Picard informs his senior staff of the conspiracy theory, and orders the Enterprise to Earth. As it approaches Earth, the Enterprise receives no response from Starfleet Command. Eventually, a transmission is received from a trio of Starfleet admirals: Savar, Arron and Admiral Quinn, who recently made an inspection of the Enterprise (in "Coming of Age"). They are surprised by the Enterprise's presence, but invite Captain Picard and Commander Riker to dinner. Quinn requests to beam aboard the Enterprise for a tour. Captain Picard recalls being warned by Quinn about some kind of threat to Starfleet when he was last aboard. Upon the admiral's arrival, Picard discusses matters with him and comes to believe that he is an impostor, or under some sort of alien influence. After warning Riker of his concerns and asking him to watch Quinn, the captain beams down to Starfleet headquarters to attend the dinner. On arrival, Picard is greeted by the other two Admirals who are accompanied by Quinn's assistant, Lt. Commander Remmick. Meanwhile, Riker visits Quinn's quarters on the Enterprise and questions him about what he has in the small box he brought with him. Quinn tells Riker of a superior life form within the box. Riker attempts to leave but Quinn throws Riker across the room. A security team arrives to subdue Quinn, who is able to withstand a great amount of phaser-fire before he collapses. The ship's chief medical officer, Dr. Crusher, finds a small protrusion on the back of his neck. She discovers that a bug-like parasite has latched itself onto Quinn's brain and is controlling him. Dr. Crusher warns Picard of this incident when he contacts the ship in private. He is advised that the infected person can only be stopped by a phaser set to 'kill': the captain points out that he is unarmed. He then has no choice but to go in to dinner with his three superiors. A bowl of living larvae is served at the meal, to Picard's disgust. He attempts to leave, only to find Riker blocking his way. The commander appears to be controlled by the parasite Quinn brought to the Enterprise. When the others see a prosthetic protrusion on the back of Riker's neck, he is accepted as one of them and allowed to dine. They reveal that the parasites are seeking to take over Starfleet, using humanoids as hosts. When he is about to put a handful of the larvae in his mouth, Riker suddenly produces a phaser and fires on one of the Admirals. Picard picks up a fallen weapon and the two Enterprise officers subdue the infected, causing parasites to leave the hosts and flee. One of the parasites scurries under a closed door and Picard and Riker follow it. They find Remmick ingesting the parasite to join several others inside him. Picard and Riker fire upon Remmick, destroying his body but freeing a giant parasite; the two continue to fire until it is destroyed. Later, Dr. Crusher reports that the other parasites, including the one in Quinn, have shriveled up as they are unable to survive without the creature that was inside Remmick. As they help to settle matters with Starfleet headquarters, they find that before Remmick was killed, he had sent a signal to a distant quadrant of the galaxy. The signal is thought to be a homing beacon. =Errors and Explanations= Plot Oversights # As the Enterprise heads for Dytallix B, Picard tells his bridge crew that no communications should be sent without specific orders from him. Apparently Worf was daydreaming at the time, because once the Enterprise nears the abandoned mining planet, the chief of Security says that all attempts at communicating with the ships in orbit have been ignored. Picard could have privately ordered Worf to contact the ships before they arrived. # After realizing Quinn isn’t Quinn, Picard hauls Riker back down two halls and into the transporter room. Then the captain makes some outrageous claims that a senior admiral in Starlleet Command is an impostor.‘Then he orders Riker to keep an eye on Quinn and join him on the planet "in force, if necessary." This is the type of conversation you have in private with your first officer, right? That‘s why Picard dragged Riker all the way back to the transporter room, right’? At the end of the conversation, Picard walks up onto the transporter pad, looks over at the control console, and says, "Energize." That transporter chief sat over there listening to the whole exchange? No - the energise command was likely directed at Riker or the computer. # Shortly after the Enterprise arrives at Earth, a senior admiral invites Picard and Riker for dinner. Picard beams down, with orders for Riker to follow. Two admirals meet Picard and escort him to a table with three glasses and a carafe of Andonian tea. One question: How did the admirals know Riker wasn‘t coming? Shouldn't there be four glasses on the table? Either Riker is famous for not likeing Andorian Tea, or the admirals didn't expect him to accept the invitation. # With the arrival of La Forge and Worf, Quinn acts like he wants to beat a hasty retreat. He heads for the door, only to be stopped by La Forge. But what about the beetle thing in the plastic box? Was Quinn just going to leave his comrade behind? He probably wanted it to stay behind, in order to infect Riker. # Admiral Savar, a Vulcan, doesn‘t seem to have a very good neck pinch. After Riker yanks out a phaser at the dinner of worms and begins stunning all the infected Starfleet officers in the room, Savar grabs him by the neck. Eventually Picard finds a phaser and shoots Savar, but in the meantime, Riker stares at the ceiling, growling in pain. What happened to the “one touch and they drop like a sack of cement" feature so often demonstrated when Spock used the’Vulcan neck pinch in the Classic series? The beetle could be compromising Savar's ability to perform the nerve pinch. Equipment Oddities # Reviewing the Starfleet command logs, Data becomes fascinated with an evolving pattern in the command decisions. He begins talking to himself, and the computer becomes confused. When Data launches into a protracted explanation, the computer cuts him off! Evidently it grew impatient with Data's verbose descriptions. So the main computer of the Enterprise, in essence, offers commentary on the manner in which it is being used? Who programmed this interface? This would be like having a word processor-that would offer its own commentary on the sentences I write. (“You really should rewrite that last sentence. You made use of the passive voice and, structurally, the sentence could stand improvement.") Probably an experimental part of the computer's artifical intelligence interface. # What does the biofilter on the transporter really do? ls it on all the time, or only when the crew suspects that something beaming aboard might be dangerous? And, if it is always on, how in the world did it miss a three-inch beetle attached to the back of Quinn’s neck? The beetle could have disguised itself. # As part of the final chase, an admiral fires a phaser at Picard and Riker. As already mentioned, Picard dives to the side. The blast hits a painting of Saturn, and sparks fly. Yet, when the smoke clears, the painting looks just as it did before the blast! The painting may be shielded. Internet Movie Database Crew or equipment visible # When the Admiral beams aboard the Enterprise with the life form, he and Cpt. Picard are talking in the hallway and a male crew member is in the background, wearing a female's uniform. This is a type of uniform known as a 'skant', and is a uniform option for both male and female crewmembers. Incorrectly regarded as goofs # When Data reviews all Starfleet decisions for the past six months, a camera angle shows all the information on his screen, including the image of what seems to be a parrot. The involvement of a parrot with Starfleet Command decisions may seem unlikely, yet it is not impossible. One example could be that this image is the symbol of an alien world or alliance Starfleet has dealings with. Or it could be an actual alien bird that has been recently discovered and needs further studying. In each case, its connection with command decisions would become plausible. A similar image was seen in The Naked Now, as during the scan of the records, we quickly see a parrot with a barely distinguishable human head (Gene Roddenberry's) on a perch wearing a Starfleet uniform, complete with insignia. This is a reference to Gene's fan inspired nickname, "The Great Bird Of The Galaxy."'IMDB Entry tt0708691 Nit Central # ''Hans Thielman on Monday, February 1, 1999 - 03:52 pm: Where was the infamous Section 31? Never a covert operations agency around when you need it. ''Adam Howarter on Wednesday, March 3, 1999 - 07:12 pm:'' If we saw them they wouldn't be covert now would they?''' =Sources= Category:Episodes Category:The Next Generation